Trading Places
by Jyuoa
Summary: When a spell goes wrong, the group continually end up switching bodies. Now they have to work together to resolve their issues and find a way to get back to their real bodies. Slight Gwevin, implied Benlie.
1. Chapter 1

The guys were in the garage. Gwen entered the room. As usual, Kevin was under his car, working on it. "Hey, guys."

"Hi." Ben said. There was a sudden clang of metal.

"Ow!" Kevin slid out from under the car and rubbed his forehead. "Could you at least warn me when you come in? I'm getting sick of that."

"Sorry." Gwen said.

"That's the fifth time this week. I'm surprised I hadn't gotten a bruise yet."

"That'd probably be an improvement, along with your attitude." Ben said.

"You know what, Tennyson? You can feel free to get out or do I need to teach you a lesson?"

Gwen put her hand to her forehead. _Oh, here we go again._ She thought.

"Right, like you're really think that you're going to able to in front of your girlfriend?" Ben pointed out. "Who, by the way, just so happens to be my cousin."

"I'm standing right here, you know!" Gwen said.

"Look, like we're all not sick of you're attitude. Ever since this team started, you've always acted like the leader, always made decisions without thinking. A good leader wouldn't be so careless, especially with his teammates involved." Kevin pointed out.

"Coming from the guy that was in the Null Void for about five years, give or take a few, what would you know about leading a team? You're always running headfirst into trouble!" Ben said.

Having enough of this, Gwen snapped under the pressure. "Okay, enough!" They both looked at her. "You guys have been arguing about this for weeks. Sure, we've all got issues as a team, but at the same time, we're all still normal teens here."

"Yeah, since when is having powers normal?" Ben asked.

"Not the point!" Gwen said. "We are a team and we need to start acting like one. I think it's time you both saw how tough you really had it." She pulled out her spell book.

"When did you have that with you?" Kevin asked.

"I brought it with me." Gwen said. "I'm not sure if this'll work, but hopefully, you'll be able to work this out." She aimed at the guys and spoke an incantation. Suddenly, there was a flash and all three were out on the ground.

Kevin got up first. "Gwen, you okay?" He said, running over to the girl.

She opened her eyes and got up. "Uh, Kev? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Gwen?" Kevin asked. Then Ben got up, rubbing the back of his head.

"Uh, that hurt. What happened?" Then he looked at Gwen. "Wait, if I'm over there…"

"Hold on, what?" Kevin asked. He saw Gwen check her hair.

"I don't remember having red hair." The cousins looked at each other, then looked down at themselves.

"Oh, not again!" They both exclaimed at the same time.


	2. Chapter 2

****

A/N: To avoid confusion, I put the name of the person talking, followed by their current appearance in parenthesis. Example: Ben (Gwen)

"Uh, I can't believe this!" Gwen said, walking to a corner of the garage.

"That makes two of us! As if this wasn't bad enough the first time." Ben said.

"Can someone please tell me what the heck just happened?" Kevin asked. "What were you trying to do, Gwen?"

"I was trying to get you two to see through each other's view, switch you guys." Ben said. "I messed up that spell. Now I'm in Ben's body."

"Wait, Gwen?" Kevin asked. Ben nodded.

"This is so embarrassing!" Gwen yelled from the corner. "I can't believe what happened. I'm a total girl." She turned to Kevin. "Don't even go there with me."

"I'm not saying anything." Kevin threw his hands up, as if he was innocent.

"Great, so now what are we supposed to do?" Ben asked. "Now that I've messed up, I don't know if I can reverse it."

"We need to figure out how to fix this." Gwen said, walking back over to the guys. "You used a spell, right? Exactly what were you thinking?"

"I was thinking you guys would stop arguing for once. Do you have any idea how annoying it is to put up with it all the time?"

"Okay, this is confusing." Kevin said. "How am I supposed to tell who's who here?"

"He's got a point." Ben (Gwen) pointed out.

"It's kind of weird to hear that from you. I mean, me…Wow, this is confusing." Gwen (Ben) admitted.

"We need to find a way to get you back to normal." Kevin confirmed. "It's kind of strange talking to one of you thinking that they're the other person."

"Can't argue with that." Gwen (Ben) said. "How are we supposed to do that, though?"

"I could…I mean, we could look it up in one of my spell books." Ben (Gwen) said. "You might need help."

"Hate to bring it up, but how do you expect to get through school like this?" Kevin asked.

"We can't stay this way forever." Gwen (Ben) said. "I'm going to try something. Be right back." The other two stayed in the garage.

"I can't believe this happened again." Ben (Gwen) said.

"Did something like this happen before?" Kevin asked.

"Yeah, we were fighting this sorceress named Charmcaster." Ben (Gwen) explained. "She was trying to switch with me, but ended up switching with Gwen. Then we ended up switching bodies when she tried again. Finally, we ended up back to normal."

"Wow, sounds like it was interesting."

"It was weirder than when I transform into one of my aliens." Ben (Gwen) said. "Would you please stop looking at me like that?"

"Sorry, I forgot. It's just, weird talking to you while you look like your cousin." Kevin admitted. Just then, he ran back over.

"We're going to have to get that spell book from Gwen's place." Gwen (Ben) said. They headed into the car. On their way over, there was a sudden explosion. "What was that?"

"Trouble." Ben (Gwen) said. "We better check this out." A group of Forever Knights were attacking.

"Great, these guys again?" Kevin asked.

"We're going to have to work with what we've got." Ben (Gwen) said, turning to face her cousin. "How do you work this thing?"

"Push in the dial and turn it at the same time." She followed his instructions and scrolled through the holograms. She hit down on Chromastone's.

"This is so weird." She started firing back at the Knights. Kevin went in and covered her. Ben (Gwen) was the only one having real problems. He couldn't figure out how to use her powers, so he just used martial arts to keep them down.

"Gwen, how do you use your powers?"

"Just focus your energy. The rest'll work on its own." She said, changing to Echo-Echo. She let loose a sonic scream.

Ben followed her directions as the Knights got closer. A burst of energy fired out right as he aimed. "Whoa!"

The two turned to each other as she returned to her human form. "That was kind of cool." Ben (Gwen) admitted.

"Yeah, but we should probably find a way to get back to normal." Gwen (Ben) said. "We have to find that spell book."

"Right. I don't know if I'll be able to do that again." Ben (Gwen) said. The trio headed back into Kevin's car and took off for Gwen's house.


	3. Chapter 3

"Do you always feel this tired after using more than one of your aliens?" Gwen (Ben) asked.

"Sometimes." Ben (Gwen) said. "How can you keep your powers under control like this?"

"I have experience and practice spells when I have the chance. Of course, that doesn't help our current problem." Gwen (Ben) said.

"I just hope you guys get back to normal soon. This is really confusing." Kevin said. He tried to focus on driving.

Then Ben's cell phone started ringing. Gwen (Ben) answered it. "Hello?"

"Ben?" Gwen (Ben) put her hand on the receiver so she wouldn't hear them talking. "It's Julie."

"So?" Ben (Gwen) asked.

"How am I supposed to talk to her? She thinks I'm you."

"Just let me talk to her." She handed him the phone. "Hey, Julie."

"Do you have a cold or something?"

"No, why?"

"Just asking." Julie said. "I wanted to see if we were still on for tonight."

"Sure, I'll pick you up at seven. I have to go now." He hung up before he accidentally said something stupid.

"Are you serious?" Ben (Gwen) said. "I have no idea how long it'll take to find the spell."

"I know you can handle this. You work well under pressure." Gwen (Ben) said.

"No, I don't. That's all you."

They pulled up by Gwen's house. "Okay, I'll go in and see if I can find it."

"It might be better if I went in. In case you've forgotten, I'm you right now." Ben (Gwen) reminded them.

"Okay, we'll both go in." Gwen (Ben) said. They got out and headed to Gwen's room. "Whoa. How many spell books do you have?"

"Just a few. Along with meditating, it's one of the ways I can keep my powers under control." Ben (Gwen) said. "It's in here." She opened the lower drawer and pulled out one of her spell books.

"We should get going. If I'm going to reverse this, I'm not going to do it where my parents could find us." Gwen (Ben) said. A

A few minutes later, they were back at the garage. "So, how's this supposed to work?" Ben (Gwen) asked.

"I've never tried to use magic while I'm a different person before." Gwen (Ben) told them. "I don't know what'll happen if I do. And I'm not counting that time with Charmcaster because we both had a magical aura."

"Maybe you guys should help each other out." Kevin said. "From what I can tell, it looks like you're having trouble reading that."

"It's because we switched places, Kev." Gwen (Ben) pointed out.

"He's right, Gwen." Ben (Gwen) told her. "You can't do this alone. Just tell me what I have to do."

"Just bring up your power and I'll do the spell." Gwen (Ben) said.

"Hang on, maybe you should do a practice spell first. To see if it works." Kevin said. They took his advice and it seemed to work.

"Okay, now let's get back to normal already." Ben (Gwen) said. He brought up Gwen's power again.

"Concentrate. We have to get back to normal." Gwen (Ben) told him. She whispered the spell and there was a sudden flash. When she looked down, she saw that she was back to normal.

"I didn't think that would work." Gwen said. She noticed Ben out on the ground and ran over to him. "Ben, it worked! We did it." Ben got up and turned to her.

"Did what?" Ben asked.

"Ben? Is that really you?"

"Uh, Gwen? I'm over here." She turned around.

"Wait a minute, if your…oh, great." Gwen put her hand to her forehead. "This day just gets better by the minute."


	4. Chapter 4

The guys looked at each other and saw what had went wrong. "Whoa. It feels like I'm talking to myself here."

"Been there, done that."

"Ben, I told you to concentrate when we did this. What were you thinking when we switched?" Gwen asked.

"Guess I wasn't."

"I am not dealing with this now. I'll see you later." Gwen said.

"Hang on, aren't you even going to try and change us back?" Ben (Kevin) asked.

"I need to try and figure out what went wrong this time." Gwen told them. She walked out, leaving them on their own.

"You know what's weird? I really don't get what you see in her." Ben (Kevin) said.

"Think this is funny, Tennyson?" Kevin (Ben) asked. "The last thing I need to be stuck like you right now. Ever since things went down when we were fighting…"

"Don't remind me."

"…The only thing I've wanted to be was normal." He looked up and saw the confused expression. "Well, mostly."

"You're not the only one that regrets that incident." Ben (Kevin) admitted. "There were times then, and even now, where I sometimes wish that I never found the Omnitrix."

"Why would you say that? It's one of the most powerful devices in the universe."

"I just got stuck with it that first night five years ago. Back then, I felt that I had to prove something…that I wasn't just that kid who always messed up everything when he was trying to help."

"Everyone messes up sometimes, even your cousin." Kevin (Ben) pointed out.

"When Grandpa Max went missing, I knew I had to put it on again. I didn't want to put the whole planet at risk."

"I've had too many close calls on other planets." Ben (Kevin) said. "The Null Void wasn't even close compared to the trouble that happened there. Especially the one before I ran into you again."

"Tech deal gone wrong?" Kevin (Ben) asked.

"We were lucky enough just to make it off the planet alive."

Kevin (Ben) stepped outside. "She's been gone a long time."

"Heads up!" Ben (Kevin) yelled. He ducked just in time. A robot was shooting laser beams at them. The guys ducked behind a row of boxes.

"We're going to have to cover each other out there." Kevin (Ben) said. "How does your ability work again?"

"Just touch anything solid, it'll do the rest." Ben (Kevin) told him. "Are you sure about this?" He asked as one of the holograms popped up.

"Relax, you'll return to normal when the fight's over." He looked out from behind the boxes. "You better do something before he destroys the entire garage."

"Okay, I'm going!" He turned the dial and changed into Humungosaur. "Man, this is weird."

Ben followed Kevin's instructions. "This feels so weird." The guys started fighting off the robot. Ben was having trouble keeping it down. Humungosaur managed to hold it off for a while. "Uh, if we ever get back to normal, I'll so owe you." Ben said.

"I don't know how much longer I can keep this up." He managed to knock it back. Suddenly, a blast came from nowhere. The guys looked up.

"Get away from them!" Gwen yelled, firing another shot at it. She managed to destroy it.

"Nice timing." The guys changed back to their normal forms. Kevin turned to Ben. "You're job really isn't easy."

"Yours is just as hard." Ben told him.

"It looks like everything worked out." Gwen said.

"Okay, now switch us back, Gwen."

"Okay, let's get back inside." Once they were back in the garage, Gwen whispered the spell and a flash occurred. When it faded, all three of them had passed out on the ground.


	5. Chapter 5

Ben sat up and looked around. He was back to normal, at least. He noticed his teammates passed out on the ground. He rushed over to Gwen. "Gwen! Kevin! Are you two okay?"

Kevin groaned and sat up. "Uh, what hit me?"

Gwen got up and rubbed her forehead. Then she turned to Ben. "Dude, why are you looking at me like that?"

"Wait a minute." Kevin said, getting up. "What am I doing over there?"

Ben turned to face him. "Gwen?"

"What?"

"I think you messed up again." Ben said. He found her compact so that she could see herself.

"Are you kidding me?" Gwen (Kevin) said after noticing her reflection. Then there was a scream from the bathroom.

"I can't believe this!" Kevin (Gwen) said.

"Whoa, Kev, calm down." Ben said.

"Calm down? Dude, I'm a girl!"

"Okay, just pointing this out, but you're not just any girl, you're me." Gwen (Kevin) said. "I have no idea why this happened. I did everything right this time."

"Hey, we all make mistakes." Ben pointed out. "Maybe you two have some issues of your own to work out."

"Magic doesn't work like that." Gwen (Kevin) told him.

"It isn't magic." Kevin (Gwen) argued.

"Are we really going into this again? If there's no such thing as magic, then why are we in each other's bodies?"

"Look, we could debate this all day or we could figure this mess out." Ben told them. He left the garage.

"He's right." Gwen (Kevin) said.

"So, what now?" Kevin (Gwen) asked.

"I'll look through the book again, see if…oh, right." Gwen (Kevin) remembered.

"What?"

"I don't know if I'll be able to read it." Gwen (Kevin) said.

"You could seem to read it when you and Ben had switched." Kevin (Gwen) pointed out.

Gwen (Kevin) picked up the book and looked at the page. She couldn't seem to read the words. "I can't read it. Try to see if you can." He looked at it.

"I have no idea what that says." Kevin (Gwen) told her.

"Great. So now we're stuck like this until we can find someone who can read it." Gwen (Kevin) said. "Why do you have to be skeptic about the idea of magic being real?"

"Me? I believe in a lot of things, but magic isn't one of them."

"That's exactly what I'm talking about! Unlike you, I know magic is real. I've been practicing it for five years while you were in prison." She realized what she said. "Sorry, didn't mean to bring that up."

"No, it's cool. I deserved it." Kevin (Gwen) admitted. "Besides, it gave me time to think about how stupid I'd been."

"I know how that feels." Gwen (Kevin) explained. "I've messed up, a lot. I felt that I was in way over my head just studying this at first because most of the spells went way wrong. But they did help out in tight spots."

"So, any ideas on how to get back to normal?" Kevin (Gwen)

"I could call those magic girls and have them help." Gwen (Kevin) said. "Though, I'm not sure how well that would go."

"If it gets us back to normal, I don't care." Then, Gwen's cell phone rang. "Hello?"

"Guys, I could really use a hand out here!"

"Ben's in trouble. Why does that not surprise me?" Kevin (Gwen) said.

"Come on!" Gwen (Kevin) said, grabbing his arm. They found him in an alley in town. "Ben, are you okay?"

"Don't!" Ben said, getting up. "It's a trap!" Suddenly, a blast hit him from behind and he was on the ground again.

"You are just as pathetic as your cousin." A girl appeared behind him. She looked very familiar. Gwen and Kevin got down behind a row of boxes.

"It's Charmcaster." Gwen (Kevin) said. "She must be after me. Or should I say you. She always was jealous because I was better at using magic."

"Great, so how are we supposed to face her?" Kevin (Gwen) asked.

"We'll watch each others backs, as usual." They got back out. Ben transformed into Chromastone. Charmcaster fired at him, but he just reflected it back at her.

"I could keep this up all day." He told her. Gwen remembered the conversation in she and Kevin had in the garage. She touched the ground and it covered her.

"This is so weird."

Kevin (Gwen) tried to fire a blast, but Gwen's power kept fading out. "Gwen! How does this work?"

"Okay, it's not that complicated." Gwen (Kevin) headed over to him. "Just focus on what you want the energy to do."

He did exactly what she said and fired a blast at Charmcaster. Gwen managed to keep her down for a while. Ben changed back to normal. "This isn't over yet." Charmcaster told them.

"You're so wrong." A voice said. The group turned and saw two silhouettes at the entrance of the alley.

"It's about to be over for you, Charmcaster."


	6. Chapter 6

Two girls stepped into the alley. The group recognized them. "Anna! Amy! What are you doing here?" Gwen (Kevin) asked.

"I felt this dark aura, so I came to investigate." Anna explained.

"And I saw that you were in trouble." Amy said.

"You've really got to stop spying us." Kevin (Gwen) told her.

"Can't help that it's part of my powers." Amy pointed out.

"Point is, we're here to help." Anna said. "I ran into her on my way here."

"Guys! I could use some help here!" They all turned as Jetray nearly flew into a brick wall.

"Still making the same mistakes, I see." Amy said.

"There's no time for this now!" Kevin (Gwen) pointed out. "We have to take care of this mess!"

"She's right, Amy." Anna said. "Or should I say he's right."

"We'll discuss this later, right now, just attack!" Amy pointed out. The two magic girls fired at Charmcaster. Kevin was struggling with using Gwen's powers. Ben fired from above, keeping Charmcaster from attacking them.

Gwen managed to knock her back. "We need to open a portal!"

"No problem." Anna said. "I've been practicing more." Amy headed over toward Gwen (Kevin).

"Try putting up a shield. She's going to try and attack again." She told him.

"Amy, I don't know if I can…"

"Just focus." Amy said. "She thinks you're Gwen, remember?" Suddenly, a blast came from out of nowhere. Without thinking, a pink shield went up around him. "Anna, let's finish this!"

"Okay!" Anna said. She opened a portal. Jetray kept firing from the air. Amy fired a blue blast at Charmcaster. Before she could recover, Gwen knocked her into the portal. It closed behind her.

Ben descended and changed back to normal. The shield disappeared and they all re-grouped. "Thanks for the help." Ben said.

"No problem." Amy said. "You guys are my friends, after all."

"Not to mention, you've helped us with our problems before." Anna pointed out.

"Think you can help us out of this mess?" Kevin (Gwen) asked.

"Body switching spell?" Amy asked.

"Yeah." Gwen (Kevin) admitted. "Every time I try to switch us back, something goes wrong."

"Just leave it to us." Anna said.

Back at the garage, Anna read through the spell book. Everyone was on the side. "Ben, you probably shouldn't stay here. When we do the spell, we want to make sure that you don't end up getting switched."

"Hey, don't you have somewhere to be anyway?" Kevin (Gwen) pointed out.

"Julie!" Ben ran off. "I'll see you guys later!"

"If he does anything stupid, I'll kick his butt." Amy said.

"Come on, Amy." Anna said. "We're ready." Gwen and Kevin were standing inside a circle that Anna had drawn.

"You sure this is going to work?"

"Please, we're like experts on magic." Amy pointed out. "Let's do it." Anna and Amy channeled their energy and said the spell. The circle glowed around them.

As soon as it was done, the circle stopped glowing. Gwen and Kevin looked down, then at each other. "It worked!"

"Well, our job here is done." Anna said. "I've got to go. I've got practice."

"Thanks for helping, Amy." Gwen said.

"Hey, I'd do anything to help you guys out." Amy said. "Anyway, I promised to meet Jake at the mall. I'll see you around."

"That must've taken a lot of magic." Kevin said.

"At least we're finally back to normal." Gwen pointed out. "Looks like I don't need this anymore." She picked up her spell book.

"I can give you a ride home if you want." Kevin said.

"Thanks." Gwen said. They got into the car and tried to forget the strange day that they'd had.


End file.
